acrobat pop-ups emerge on wrong monitor (the inactive one)

[toddcromiii]

When I am using acrobat with a two monitor system, if acrobat pops up a dialog, it often puts it on the wrong monitor (the one on which I am not running acrobat).

It seems acrobat has decided that pop-ups should always go on my second monitor, so if I am running acrobat in a window on that monitor, it is fine (in that, the pop-up comes up on the same monitor I activated the pop-up from).

However, if I am running acrobat on monitor one, and I get a pop-up for any reason, such as reaching the end of the document in a search, or bringing the print dialog with File->Print..., then the pop-up comes up on the second monitor, which is very annoying, as much of the time, I leave that monitor off, or, in any case, I now have to move the pointer way over to the second monitor to answer the dialog, then go back to the first monitor to continue viewing a pdf.

This is so annoying that a viable solution may be for me to stop using acrobat to view PDFs (hmm, anybody recommend good alternatives?)

[AnandSri]

Hello Toddcromiii,

As per the description above, the Print dialog box of Adobe Reader appears on the second monitor, Is that correct?

The dialog box appears on whichever screen contains the "main/primary" window box- that is, the window set as the primary display.

Try rearranging the workspace window from the display setting of your computer and check if this brings any difference.

If the issue persists, reset the Adobe Reader's Preferences once and reboot the machine, to reset the Preferences, refer to the steps mentioned in the article How to reset Acrobat Preference settings to default.

Is it a Mac or Windows machine? What is the dot version of Adobe Reader installed? To identify refer to Identify the product and its version for Acrobat and Reader DC

Let us know how it goes and share your findings.

Regards,

Anand Sri.

[toddcromiii]

It appears on the second monitor, where I am running acrobat on the monitor that is marked "This monitor is currently your main display" in control panel->appearance and personalization->display->screen resolution Windows (thus, I am running windows 7). The version is acrobat reader DC, version 2018.011.20040.

If acrobat pops-up windows on the "main/primary" display, that is suboptimal in my view, as the best choice would be to pop up windows on the same display you are running acrobat on (otherwise the effect is to put the dialog box that you can answer potentially thousands of pixels away from where you activated the pop-up).

I tried moving the preferences directory out of the way as described in the link you posted; no difference.

[toddcromiii]

swapping the two cables also had no effect. acrobat persistently opens any and all dialog boxes on the second monitor (where that one is arranged in portrait mode and is *not* the one that is "currently my main display" in control panel...screen resolution.

[AnandSri]

please try the steps provided below:

•     Open Adobe Acrobat Reader DC and resize the window.
•     Move it to the main screen and close it.
•     Now open the application again and maximize the window.
•     Then close it.

Now check if it opens by default on the main screen.

Let us know if this help.

Thanks,

Anand Sri

[toddcromiii]

Thank you for your reply.

I tried exactly the steps you outlined above, with no effect on my problem.

Please note: I am talking about where acrobat opens dialogs like the print dialog, not where acrobat's main window opens when you start acrobat.

[toddcromiii · Accepted solution]

I have figured out something relevant, perhaps enough of a solution.

The AMD Catalyst program which is used to set advanced options for my displays showed displays 1 and 2 reversed with respect to windows 7 control panel display setup (which showed them as 2 and 1). Fixing this discrepancy (in AMD Catalyst) caused the acrobat windows like print and "end of search" to pop up on the display marked as "main" which is at least a little better (as the main display is the one I have always powered on, at least).

While opening subwindows is at least a defensible behavior, it'd be nice if acrobat had a preference to open sub-windows on the same monitor as acrobat is running on -- that way you would not have to go to the other monitor to answer the dialog. (Where by "other" I mean the monitor that is not displaying the acrobat program).

[Tasha3438136772i9]

I did not have the exact same issue as OP, but this fixed my issue. Thanks!

[Joe26557642gtyq]

If you are using windows 10:

1) Right click on the desktop and select "Display Settings" on the menu 

2) Select the monitor number at the top that you want to function as the main display for Adobe, where you want the pop-ups to come up

3) Scroll down to the bottom where it says "Multiple Displays" and select the checkbox that says "Make this my main display". 

This should default Adobe to open itself and pop-ups on the screen selected. Hope this helps!

[Jackie278360471cu8]

I am experiencing the same issue on my mac. Adope opens on my main monitor (it IS marked as main on my mac) but all pop-up boxes (print, search, etc) show up on my monitor 2 and it is VERY annoying. I did all the steps listed above and I am not able to make it work!

[Jackie278360471cu8]

After HOURS with tech support, it appears that you MUST have your active monitor on the left in the setup. If you do this, the print dialog appears on the correct monitor. Put the active monitor to the top (as I have done to emulate my setup), and your print dialog will be lost to the inactive monitor. This is NOT a good solution. I shoud be able to place my active monitor where ever I please!

[Jackie278360471cu8]

It appears that after doing this, I was able to put the monitor back where I wanted it and it remembers and words. There is something amiss with all of this but it is fixed for me now.

[AkanchhaS]

Hi @Jackie278360471cu8 

Thank you for sharing your findings with us, and glad to hear the suggestion provided above has worked.

Thanks,

Akanchha 

[dbacoreworks53]

Same here. Found this thread while troubleshooting same issue; I rearranged the displays as per your notation (re-arranged so the left monitor was noted on the right in Displays Settings) and the print dialog showed up, finally, on the main screen. I then put the Displays back where they belong via Display Settings and the dialog remained on the Main screen. I guess it just needed a kick in the head. 

[marcinNOLA]

For my MacBook Pro 2019 I rearranged the monitors in "Display Settings" so the active monitor is on the left, and the built-in monitor is on the right, and the Print window appeared in the active monitor as desired. However, I tried then moving the built-in monitor underneath the active monitor and the pop-up (Print) window went back to the built-in. Adobe should allow you to specify the position of the print window independent of the system display settings, or else should put all popups on the active monitor.